Who really came out on top during the Super Bowl? The Packers or Bud Light?

Overall, this years Super Bowl commercials were not as satisfying and did not meet the expectations that previous years commercials met. Usually there is a wide array of different brands being represented, but this year the same ones were repeated. Nonetheless, there were a few that caught our eye.

Bud Light, which always creates entertaining commercials, did not disappoint. The first commercial that appeared mimicked Extreme Makeover Home Edition and other similar shows.

The target audience for this commercial is women, different from their usual predominantly male target audience. It begins seeming like the couple, with the typical crazed anticipation of the woman, was going to receive a new kitchen.  Surprise! Only Bud Light was added to the room. The wife was shocked at first and a little unsure, but as people started to party in the kitchen, the host says “now this is a room that everyone wants to be in!”. This adds emphasis to their slogan of “a sure sign of a good time.”

The second one (our favorite) that spoofed how outrageous product placement has become.

Product placement is meant to be subtle, something to quietly promote a brand name without interfering the television show or movie (for example, a soda can on a kitchen counter). Bud Light took this fad to the extreme by mentioning how every time you place a product, you get free stuff. Bud Light appears almost twenty times in the thirty-second ad. Since it is such a recognizable brand, they do not have to explain what their product is or why you should buy it. Instead, they are able to use they creativity to make funny and memorable ads that people will talk about. This strengthens their brand by creating a buzz (figuratively and physically).

They also created a commercial in which the dog sitter throws a party and has the dogs do all the work.

The dogs open the door, serve beer, DJ, bartend, cook, basically running the party. This is memorable because most people can relate to owning a pet but by having the dogs personify human actions, it creates a humorous and different twist. This ties directly into their current slogan. Even though the commercial does not demonstrate the benefits of drinking Bud Light, it creates an image of how much fun you can have while drinking Bud Light.

As one of the only three beers represented during the Super Bowl, they stood out as the frontrunner in beer ads for the year.  This indicates their financial prosperity as a company.

-Allison Day, Jessica Berinson, Megan Canny, Melissa Gagliardi, Scott Burgess

Comments

3 responses to “Who really came out on top during the Super Bowl? The Packers or Bud Light?”

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gordon Milton, allisonday32 and allisonday32, scottrburgess. scottrburgess said: Who really won the super bowl??? Share your thoughts here! http://tinyurl.com/4p43ws8 […]

  2. Dr. O. Avatar
    Dr. O.

    Both my wife and my father in law commented on it being a “down” year for the ads. Not sure if it really was or if expectations just continue to rise based on last year’s “best” becoming this year’s expectation. What is interesting is how much of the humor in your top choices is intertextual. That is to “get” the joke you have to understand the other text they reference: HGTV programming, product placement in other texts, etc. To me the dog one is the weakest and it is the one that doesn’t have that kind of reference . . . unless that was a Jersey Shore spoof–the acting was better!

  3. Dr. Persuit Avatar
    Dr. Persuit

    Dr. Olsen’s comment reminded me of what I just went over in the Intro to IMC class yesterday about postmodernism – that the ads assume you know which text is the reference and then create a new ad based on this. The examples I show in class are ESPN’s This is SportsCenter, because those require specific knowledge of ESPN, sports culture, etc. to understand the jokes. Good points made by all! Dr. P

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